🇦🇹 Vienna: a Hallmark Christmas movie

 Apparently some people dream about coming to European Christmas markets. They seek out the soft glow of the white tree lights, illuminated church backdrops, vast public squares, oversized trees and decorations, and wooden stalls hawking their local wares, sugary and savory snacks, and unique stylized mugs full of liquid warmth. 

I, however, never did. 

Yet, here in Vienna I see why this is the atmosphere that dreams are made of. Dreams and Hallmark Christmas movies. 

Vienna had 13 Christmas markets, one we wouldn’t count as a market and one we couldn’t find. But otherwise we walked, trained, tram’d, metro’d, and bussed all over Vienna. Chasing the next hit of Christmas aroma, holiday gnomes, earrings, mitts full of snacks, mugs full of hot wine, and anything else we could cram into our super limited luggage space. 

If you find yourself in Vienna be sure to look both ways before crossing the street and for good measure, look again! Their public transit system is stellar! There is a maze like network of tram tracks on nearly every street: cars puttering along behind them and in front as they wind the streets with predictable timing and convenience. I’m curious how often a car cuts a corner too tight and clips them or a texting pedestrian walks in front of them. Unlike our experiences in Italy, Austrians understand Standard Operating Procedures like waiting for existing passengers to get off before loading and even form regular lines to do so. Amazing how refreshing this felt after ten months of the push and shove crowd. 

The primary language in Austria is German - an interesting development since other parts of the defunked empire speak their own languages. While nearly everyone speaks English as their second or third language, very little signage lists both. Unlike in Hungary. Every stop we feel an increasing sense of ignorance at our mono linguistic ability. Some booth workers could seamlessly transition between 3 or 4 languages while we used Google Translate to figure out which hot beverage we wanted. 

While deciding which hot beverage was a challenge, there were no shortage of options!

Despite the welcomed onslaught of Christmas to all the senses, we also fit in a non holiday related ballet and trip to the local aquarium. The aquarium even had some non aquatic creatures where we found ourselves an opportunity to sit with the lemurs! 

There’s a ton of history here in Vienna also: imperial buildings dot every street. My head was permanently cranked upward to stare at magnificent columns, grand statues, unique marbeling, and a level of grandiousness I haven’t experienced in a city. While Vienna has its own incredibly rich history, here I allowed myself to take in the best markets of our trip, and for history teacher Kelly to take a backseat to the childhood wonder of Christmas lights and sights. 

While pausing the history tour, I did not give up an opportunity to pose with the Austrian parliament building!

Vienna was also our only stop that had the famed “Christmas gluhwein mugs.” These are legendary, and traditional, in places like Germany where hot beverages like mulled wine, apple cider, mead, punch, and even hot beer are served in ceramic mugs. When your core temp rises - and your mug contents inevitable diminishes at correlating rates - you simply return the mug to ANY stall and get your €5 deposit back. We saw trays and trays of mugs being hauled off to industrial dish washers just to be returned for the next round of revelers to sip and thaw out. It does make for sticker shock when purchasing your beverage but also a cherished tradition for people to forfeit their deposit and keep the mug. A souvenir Mother Nature can get behind! Most markets have traditional shaped coffee mugs but some have unique designs. Here in Vienna the cutest one was a red boot with a reindeer on the side. Somewhere in Germany there’s a penguin shaped mug and while we collected our deposit each time on this trip, no doubt we will adopt penguin mugs at some point soon. 

I suspect this mug is where the collecting will begin....coming for you one year!

Vienna has a rich tradition of opera and ballet and several incredible buildings to host these performances. The Vienna State Opera House was built while the US was waging war against itself and was our host for an evening of music and ballet at Sleeping Beauty. I think we can both admit that long ballets are maybe not our passion - especially after an 8 mile walking day in the cold and a few mugs of liquid warmth - but it was spectacular none the less. The dancers were incredibly talented and mesmerizing and the venue was stunning in its imperial day glory. The lack of words in a ballet was helpful since we have no knowledge of the German language but also a disadvantage in remembering the entire storyline of Sleeping Beauty. Another welcomed treat was the ability to take public transit home in the late evening hours, after an event, as the public transit in Napoli shuts down far too early to be functional at that hour. 

WOW! No wonder the Vienna State Opera House is famous!

While all things Christmas were our motivation, Brian never leaves a zoo or aquarium unvisited! Over the years we've become much more picky in making sure there are conservation initiatives at these facilities and we aren't supporting organizations that are solely for profit, privately owned, which often employ poor living, and breading conditions, for the animals. Here in Vienna, the Haus des Meeres is hosted in a a former Second World War flak tower! We preregistered to spend some time with their lemur population; our guide was an Italian national so we got lots of lemur knowledge with sides of Italian language and cultural tips. Brian was in hog heaven (lemur land?) as we learned all about their social structures. The leader of a lemur pack is always female and she even pushed a lesser lemur off Brian's arm because she wanted to perch there, but not before stealing snacks from her subordinate! It was a fascinating experience with genuine kid charm and we left feeling that the Disney movie Madagascar missed the mark not highlighting the badassery of the female centric lemur packs. 

I'm not one for Hallmark Christmas movies. Growing up, only one holiday movie reigned supreme and I still watch Christmas Eve on Sesame Street several times a season. (I've included the free YouTube link to this gem if you've never seen it, or it leaves in the back recesses of your memory, or you just need to see some Snuffy trying to fit into a chimney). In Brian's family it was, and still is, a Christmas Story on repeat from dawn until dusk. It doesn't surprise me to learn that there is a Hallmark movie called Christmas in Vienna. The lights. The smells. The architecture. The romantic atmosphere. Vienna is precisely what I will think of when I see these movies marketed for the rest of the season. 

The little penguin on the gray ornament came home with us. The lady had just painted him the night before and she was working on some new ones at her booth this night.

Alpine curling. Apparently it's a thing thing.

Onward to Bratislava Slovakia 🇸🇰

 &

 Prague Czechia! 🇨🇿